How Don Johnson REALLY Broke Atlantic City

The Man Who Broke Atlantic City

Don Johnson won nearly $6 million playing blackjack in one night, single-handedly decimating the monthly revenue of Atlantic City’s Tropicana casino. Not long before that, he’d taken the Borgata for $5 million and Caesars for $4 million. Here’s how he did it.

Don Johnson finds it hard to remember the exact cards. Who could? At the height of his 12-hour blitz of the Tropicana casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, last April, he was playing a hand of blackjack nearly every minute.
Dozens of spectators pressed against the glass of the high-roller pit.

Inside, playing at a green-felt table opposite a black-vested dealer, a burly middle-aged man in a red cap and black Oregon State hoodie was wagering $100,000 a hand. Word spreads when the betting is that big. Johnson was on an amazing streak. The towers of chips stacked in front of him formed a colorful miniature skyline. His winning run had been picked up by the casino’s watchful overhead cameras and drawn the close scrutiny of the pit bosses. In just one hand, he remembers, he won $800,000. In a three-hand sequence, he took $1.2 million.

As Johnson remembers it, the $800,000 hand started with him betting $100,000 and being dealt two eights. If a player is dealt two of a kind, he can choose to “split” the hand, which means he can play each of the cards as a separate hand and ask for two more cards, in effect doubling his bet. That’s what Johnson did. His next two cards, surprisingly, were also both eights, so he split each again.

Getting four cards of the same number in a row doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. Johnson says he was once dealt six consecutive aces at the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. He was now playing four hands, each consisting of a single eight-card, with $400,000 in the balance.

He was neither nervous nor excited. Johnson plays a long game, so the ups and downs of individual hands, even big swings like this one, don’t matter that much to him. He is a veteran player. Little interferes with his concentration. He doesn’t get rattled. With him, it’s all about the math, and he knows it cold. Whenever the racily clad cocktail waitress wandered in with a fresh whiskey and Diet Coke, he took it from the tray.

The house’s hand showed an upturned five. Arrayed on the table before him were the four eights. He was allowed to double down—to double his bet—on any hand, so when he was dealt a three on the first of his hands, he doubled his bet on that one, to $200,000. When his second hand was dealt a two, he doubled down on that, too.

When he was dealt a three and a two on the next two hands, he says, he doubled down on those, for a total wager of $800,000.

It was the dealer’s turn. He drew a 10, so the two cards he was showing totaled 15. Johnson called the game—in essence, betting that the dealer’s down card was a seven or higher, which would push his hand over 21. This was a good bet: since all face cards are worth 10, the deck holds more high cards than low. When the dealer turned over the house’s down card, it was a 10, busting him. Johnson won all four hands.

Johnson didn’t celebrate. He didn’t even pause. As another skyscraper of chips was pushed into his skyline, he signaled for the next hand. He was just getting started.

Dj

How Don Johnson Really Broke Atlantic City

There was a LOT more involved than just a good loss rebate. That video is very, very superficial and not much was revealed. Here is probably a more accurate rendition and it at least matches some of the factors that I understood were involved. It was a team effort that appeared as a single gambler. Many of us would like this kind of situation.........LOL:

There was a LOT more involved than just a good loss rebate. That video is very, very superficial and not much was revealed. Here is probably a more accurate rendition and it at least matches some of the factors that I understood were involved. It was a team effort that appeared as a single gambler. Many of us would like this kind of situation.........LOL:

In fact, things got hopping enough that the pit-boss failed to recognize Johnson card-counting, the guy next to him catching glimpses of the dealer’s hole cards and another collaborator sequencing the deck, telling Johnson when strong cards would be coming his way. Besides serving as distractions, the good-looking girls made small bets and ate cards when the count got bad.

There was a LOT more involved than just a good loss rebate. That video is very, very superficial and not much was revealed. Here is probably a more accurate rendition and it at least matches some of the factors that I understood were involved. It was a team effort that appeared as a single gambler. Many of us would like this kind of situation.........LOL:

Burger King remains unimpressed. Don Johnson doesn't compare to the skills it takes to run up to a roulette table, knock over a stack of $1 chips, and pretend to have a seizure as you stuff 3 of them in your underwear.

Burger King remains unimpressed. Don Johnson doesn't compare to the skills it takes to run up to a roulette table, knock over a stack of $1 chips, and pretend to have a seizure as you stuff 3 of them in your underwear.

Johnson couldn't do it all by himself but it seems like he gets all the credit. I am unimpressed as it seems like more of a team effort than a solo beatdown put on the casino by a single player. Like I said he played to special conditions and rules that are not given to other blackjack players. I'm not sure if the rules were the same at the different casinos he played at and beat but I'm sure there were differences. It seems like a lot of the credit should go to the guy who was HC'ing and the sequencer from the link MJOK posted up. I do wonder how accurate the sequencer actually was with respect to the decks in play and if they were able to HC at every casino, I would have to say no. In a high dollar game like the games Johnson was playing I have to wonder how the player was getting the HC info knowing they were probably being watched closely. Was the dealer that sloppy in a high dollar BJ game and showing a flash of a card coming form a shoe from the MJOK link? Was the dealer compromised?

I'm not impressed by the booze and the bimbos, it was all a charade that aided the big player. If the public got the rules Johnson played by anyone can guess what would happen to the casinos bottom line in blackjack. The true wizardry came from the HC play, the sequencing, and the accuracy of the sequencing the way I see it where the $1.5 million was made. Anyone can count cards and play basic strategy that's not difficult at all. Who was the one mentoring Johnson?

I’m a very big blackjack player. I don’t count, though I play perfect basic strategy. Not surprisingly, even as a perfect basic strategy player, over time I’ve lost. I haven’t been out to Vegas in over a year. A casino wants my action so badly that they have offered me a large discount, and very high betting limits relative to the required front money. The discount is large enough to yield a significant positive expected value for the trip, even for nothing more than my perfect basic strategy play (if I were counting at this level, I’d be barred immediately anyway). The required front money is $500,000. I’ve never been offered a discount this high on a game with this low of an edge – these are the best rules and the highest discount I’ve ever seen.

The market has taken a big bite out of my net worth recently, and I’m just not comfortable laying out that much anymore. If anyone has it and would like to discuss doing this, I’d love to hear from you. Though I obviously can’t guarantee a win, the math speaks for itself….there’s a good $40,000 or more in positive EV in this. I’m looking to do this next weekend (September 9 2011).

I can give all the details necessary anyone to make a determination in private.